Wire stories category, Page 31
U.S. applications for jobless benefits highest since October 2021
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week rose to its highest level since October 2021, but the labor market remains one of the healthiest parts of the U.S. economy. The Labor Department reported Thursday that U.S. applications for jobless claims were 261,000 for the week ending June...
Merck sues federal government, calling plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices extortion
Merck is suing the federal government over a plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices, calling the program a sham equivalent to extortion. The drugmaker is seeking to halt the program, which was laid out in the Inflation Reduction Act and is expected to save taxpayers billions of dollars in the...
Hundreds of journalists strike to demand leadership change at nation’s biggest newspaper chainVideo
NEW YORK — Journalists at two dozen local newspapers across the U.S. walked off the job Monday to demand an end to painful cost-cutting measures and a change of leadership at Gannett, the country’s biggest newspaper chain. The strike involves hundreds of journalists at newspapers in eight states, including the...
Crude prices are up after Saudi cuts, but energy prices way down from last year
Wall Street is relatively flat Monday following last week’s last surge propelled by U.S. jobs data that raised new questions about if or when a recession might arrive. Futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are essentially unchanged heading into a week with little new data...
Saudi Arabia is slashing oil supply. It could mean higher gas prices for U.S. drivers
FRANKFURT, Germany — Saudi Arabia will reduce how much oil it sends to the global economy, taking a unilateral step to prop up the sagging price of crude after two previous cuts to supply by major producing countries in the OPEC+ alliance failed to push oil higher. The Saudi cut...
Journalists to strike at the largest U.S. newspaper chain
Journalists across the U.S. will walk off their jobs next week at roughly two dozen newsrooms run by Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the the country, their union said Thursday. The mostly one-day strike, which will start Monday, aims to protest Gannett’s leadership and cost-cutting measures imposed since its...
FTC charges Amazon with privacy violations over Alexa and Ring cameras
WASHINGTON — Amazon will pay more than $30 million to settle alleged privacy violations involving its voice assistant Alexa and its doorbell camera Ring. The Federal Trade Commission voted to file charges in two separate cases Wednesday that could also force the company to delete certain data collected by its...
Conservatives call for boycott of Chick-fil-A for being ‘woke’
The latest target of conservative outcry is no longer Target. Hundreds of social media users took to Twitter on Wednesday to call for a boycott of Chick-fil-A over the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) page on the restaurant’s website. “(T)hey Chose Go Woke, Go Broke,” Twitter user MAGA American Patriot...
Job openings surge to 10.1 million, upping odds for Fed hikeVideo
Vacancies at U.S. employers unexpectedly surged in April to the highest in three months, giving the Federal Reserve more reason to consider hiking interest rates again soon. The number of available positions increased to 10.1 million from an upwardly revised 9.75 million in March, the Labor Department’s Job Openings and...
Master business skills without paying for an MBA
Lindsay Mack earned her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2005. Nearly 15 years later, when she considered the best way to grow her business acumen, an MBA was not it. Mack, who is from Philadelphia, grew her career without an MBA. When ready to advance her skills in platform...
Amazon workers stage walkout over job cuts, return-to-office mandate
SEATTLE — A group of corporate Amazon workers upset about the company’s environmental impact, recent layoffs and a return-to-office mandate is planning a walkout at the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday. The lunchtime protest comes a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect requiring...
CEOs got smaller raises. It would still take a typical worker 2 lifetimes to make their annual pay
After ballooning for years, CEO pay growth is finally slowing. The typical compensation package for chief executives who run S&P 500 companies rose just 0.9% last year, to a median of $14.8 million, according to data analyzed for The Associated Press by Equilar. That means half the CEOs in the...
Millennial Money: 3 signs you may need a credit card hiatus
When your finances start to spiral and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with credit card payments or build toward financial goals, switching your payment method temporarily to cash or debit could help. Spending with credit cards can stimulate the brain’s reward center and drive you to make more...
Liz Weston: 5 ways to simplify and reduce your money clutter
Professional organizers might define household clutter as a pile of unmade decisions. Money clutter is much the same. Those credit cards you no longer use but haven’t closed? That’s money clutter. So is the retirement account you left behind three jobs ago and the financial paperwork you keep but no...
3 ways to pay for your summer vacation
A summer vacation can feel like a seasonal rite of passage — a sacred time to break away from the demands of everyday life in favor of fun and relaxation. But summer can also be an expensive time to travel, which makes it hard to budget enough money for your...
Target removes some LGBTQ merchandise from stores ahead of June Pride month after threats to workers
NEW YORK — Target is removing certain items from its stores and making other changes to its LGBTQ merchandise nationwide ahead of Pride month, after an intense backlash from some customers including violent confrontations with its workers. “Since introducing this year’s collection, we’ve experienced threats impacting our team members’ sense...
Ford to keep AM radio on ’24 models, restore it on 2 electrics from ’23
DETROIT— Owners of new Ford vehicles will be able to tune in to AM radio in their cars, trucks and SUVs after all. CEO Jim Farley wrote in social media postings Tuesday that the company is reversing a decision to scrub the band after speaking with government policy leaders who...
Millennial Money: How to pick a socially responsible bank
It has never been easier to open a bank account, especially with the spread of online services, but there has also never been so much choice about where to put your money. If you’re overwhelmed by your banking options, think about your ability to shape social change with your money....
California employees share what a 4-day work is really like
OAKLAND, California — It’s after noon on a recent Wednesday, and the kitchen and patio at ThredUp’s Oakland headquarters are packed. Employees are eating lunch and chatting around a long table in the kitchen. Smaller groups are clustered outside and enjoying a sunny spring day after weeks of rain. But...
TikTok files lawsuit to overturn Montana’s 1st-in-nation ban on the video sharing app
HELENA, Mont. — Social media company TikTok Inc. filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn Montana’s first-in-the-nation ban on the video sharing app, arguing the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights and is based on “unfounded speculation” that the Chinese government could access users’ data. The lawsuit...
Venmo to be officially available for teenagers
NEW YORK — Teenagers will officially be allowed to open a Venmo account with their parent’s permission, the company said Monday, expanding the popular social payments app to a age demographic that is likely to embrace it almost immediately. Using Venmo won’t necessarily be new to a good number of...
Disney scraps plans for $1B Florida campus as fight with DeSantis continues
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Walt Disney Co. announced Thursday that it was scrapping plans to build a new campus in central Florida and relocate 2,000 employees from Southern California to work in digital technology, finance and product development. The decision follows a year of attacks from Gov. Ron...
Sam Zell, billionaire real estate investor, dies
Sam Zell, a Chicago real estate magnate who earned a multibillion-dollar fortune and a reputation as “the grave dancer” for his ability to revive moribund properties died on Thursday. He was 81. Zell died at home due to complications from a recent illness, according to Equity Group Investments, a company...
EPA rule would force clean-up of toxic coal ash dumped in landfills, ponds near power plants
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening a rule aimed at controlling and cleaning up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A proposal announced Wednesday would for the first time require safe management of so-called coal ash dumped in hundreds of older landfills, “legacy” ponds and other inactive sites...
5 tips to tackle a home remodel in an uncertain economy
Spring is kickoff season for many kitchen remodels, bathroom updates and deck repairs, but recent economic turmoil may have homeowners questioning their home improvement plans. Spending on home renovations is expected to slow this year because of factors such as declining home sales and values, rising interest rates , continuing...
